P-020: IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIOECONOMIC DISTRESS ON NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND KIDNEY FUNCTION IN PEOPLE WITH SICKLE CELL ANEMIA
Authors: HAN J., MOLOKIE R., HUSSAIN F., NJOKU F., GORDEUK V., SARAF S.
Journal: HemaSphere (2022)

Purpose: Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is characterized by a myriad of acute and chronic complications. These complications negatively impact the ability to achieve educational and occupational goals making this group a particularly vulnerable population to socioeconomic challenges (PMID 30540112). In the general population, indices of socioeconomic distress are associated with poor nutrition and kidney disease risk (PMID 25573510). The association of socioeconomic distress with nutritional status and kidney function in people with SCA is unknown. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study to describe the burden of socioeconomic distress and its impact on nutritional status and kidney function in an SCA cohort (n=332) treated at an urban academic institution. The distressed community index (DCI), a composite of socioeconomic indicators that estimate the economic well-being of a community, was determined for each individual using the following website: https://eig.org/dci/interactive-map. A higher DCI score indicates a more distressed community. The associations of DCI with measures of nutritional status (serum albumin, body mass index [BMI], vitamin D 25-OH) and kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR]; albuminuria; serum bicarbonate, potassium, and erythropoietin levels), were determined using linear or logistic regression. The analyses were adjusted for age, sex, and hydroxyurea use for nutritional status as well as for APOL1 G1 and G2 risk status for kidney function. The beta coefficients provided are based on increments of 10 for DCI. Median and interquartile ranges (IQR) are provided. Results: The median age of the cohort was 31 years (IQR, 24 – 41 years), 55% were female, and 53% were on hydroxyurea therapy. The median DCI in this cohort was 87 (IQR, 61 – 96) with 61% of SCA patients living in a distressed tier (DCI≥ 80) and only 5% living in a prosperous tier (DCI< 20). The DCI tiers for SCA patients trended towards more socioeconomically distressed communities compared to the general African American population (P=0.1) (Figure 1A). A higher DCI, reflecting an increase in socioeconomic distress, was associated with a trend for a lower odds ratio (OR) of being on hydroxyurea therapy (OR 0.93, 95% CI: 0.86 – 1.01; P=0.08). An increasing DCI was significantly associated with lower serum albumin (β= -0.02; P=0.016) (Figure 1B), BMI (β= -0.01; P=0.045), and vitamin D 25-OH levels (β= -0.7; P=0.001) (Figure 1C). A higher DCI was associated with a trend for a lower eGFR (β= -0.6; P=0.09) (Figure 1D) while no association was observed with urine albumin concentration (P=0.8). Lower serum bicarbonate (β= -0.1; P=0.02) and lower erythropoietin (β= -0.9; P=0.1) levels, but not serum potassium concentration (P=0.9), were also associated with higher DCI. Conclusion: In conclusion, we demonstrate that a high proportion of patients with SCA treated at an urban academic institution live in distressed socioeconomic communities. Furthermore, higher distressed community indices are associated with lower measures of nutritional status and with some markers of impaired kidney function. Future studies investigating the effects of socioeconomic distress on access to healthy foods and kidney disease risk may guide public health strategies to improve health disparities in the SCA population.Figure 1. The authors do not declare any conflict of interest